Voiced alveolar and postalveolar approximants facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Alveolar approximant |
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| ɹ | |||
| ð̠˕ | |||
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| IPA number | 151 | ||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ɹ |
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| Unicode (hex) | U+0279 | ||
| X-SAMPA | r\ or D_r_o |
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| Kirshenbaum | r |
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| ɹ̠ | |
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The voiced alveolar approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the alveolar and postalveolar approximants is ⟨ɹ⟩, a lowercase letter r rotated 180 degrees. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r\.
The most common sound represented by the letter r in English is the voiced postalveolar approximant, pronounced a little more back and transcribed more precisely in IPA as ⟨ɹ̠⟩, but ⟨ɹ⟩ is often used for convenience in its place. For further ease of typesetting, English phonemic transcriptions might use the symbol ⟨r⟩ even though this symbol represents the alveolar trill in phonetic transcription.
The bunched or molar r sounds remarkably similar to the postalveolar approximant and can be described as a voiced labial pre-velar approximant with tongue-tip retraction. It can be transcribed in IPA as ⟨ψ⟩ or ⟨ɹ̈⟩.
Contents
Features
Features of the voiced alveolar approximant:
- Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
- Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
- Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
- It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
Alveolar
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanian | gjelbër | [ˈɟʑɛlbəɹ] | 'green' | ||
| Armenian | Classical | սուրճ | [suɹtʃ] | 'coffee' | |
| Assamese | ৰঙা (rônga) | [ɹɔŋa] | 'red' | ||
| Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | Alqosh dialect | ܪܒ | [ɹɑbɑ] | 'many' | Corresponds to /ɾ/ in most other Assyrian dialects. |
| Tyari dialect | |||||
| Bengali | Especially Eastern dialects | আবার | [abaɹ] | 'again' | Phonetic realisation of /r/, especially in some Eastern Dialects and sometimes in conjunct before consonants. Corresponds to [r ~ ɾ] in others. See Bengali phonology |
| Burmese | ပရိဘောဂ | [pəɹḭbɔ́ɡa̰] | 'furniture' | Occurs only in loanwords, mostly from Pali or English. | |
| Chukchi | ңирэк | [ŋiɹek] | 'two' | ||
| Dahalo | [káð̠˕i] | 'work' | Apical. It is a common intervocalic allophone of /d̠/, and may be a weak fricative [ð̠] or simply a plosive [d] instead. | ||
| Danish | Standard | ved | [ve̝ð̠˕ˠ] | 'at' | Velarized and laminal; allophone of /d/ in the syllable coda. For a minority of speakers, it may be a non-sibilant fricative instead. See Danish phonology. |
| Dutch | Central Netherlandic | door | [doːɹ] | 'through' | Allophone of /r/ in the syllable coda for some speakers. See Dutch phonology. |
| Western Netherlandic | |||||
| Leiden | rat | [ɹat] | 'rat' | Corresponds to /r/ in other dialects. | |
| Faroese | róður | [ɹɔuwʊɹ] | 'rudder' | See Faroese phonology. | |
| German | Moselle Franconian (Siegerland and Westerwald dialects) | Rebe | [ˈɹeːbə] | 'vine' | Most other dialects use a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ], a uvular trill [ʀ] or an alveolar trill [r]. See Standard German phonology. |
| Silesian | |||||
| Upper Lusatian | |||||
| Greek | μέρα méra | [ˈmɛɹɐ] | 'day' | Allophone of /ɾ/ in rapid or casual speech and between vowels. See Modern Greek phonology. | |
| Icelandic | bróðir | [ˈprou̯ð̠˕ir] | 'brother' | Usually apical. See Icelandic phonology. | |
| Limburgish | Montfortian dialect | maintenant | [ˈmæ̃ːn˦ð̠˕ənɑ̃ː˨] | 'now' | |
| Persian | فارسی | [fɒːɹˈsiː] | 'Persian' | Allophone of /ɾ/ before /d/, /l/, /s/, /ʃ/, /t/, /z/, and /ʒ/. See Persian phonology. | |
| Portuguese | Multiple Brazilian dialects, mostly inland Centro-Sul | amor | [aˈmoɹˠ] | 'love' | Allophone of /ɾ ~ ʁ/ in the syllable coda. Velarized, may also be retroflex, post-alveolar and/or a rhotic vowel. See Portuguese phonology. |
| Spanish | Andalusian | doscientos | [do̞ɹˈθje̞n̪t̪o̞s] | 'two hundred' | Allophone of /s/ before [θ]. See Spanish phonology. |
| Belizean | invierno | [imˈbjeɹno] | 'winter' | Possible realization of /r/ in the syllable coda due to English influence. | |
| Caribbean Colombian | |||||
| Puerto Rican | |||||
| Swedish | Central Standard | starkast | [ˈs̪t̪äɹːkäs̪t̪] | 'strongest' | Allophone of /r/. Some speakers have [ɾ] ([r] when geminated) in all positions. See Swedish phonology. |
| Tagalog | parang | [paɹaŋ] | 'like-' | Allophone of the more traditional [ɾ ~ r] used by the more English-literate younger speakers. | |
| Turkish | Marmara Region | artık | [aɹtɯk] | 'excess, surplus' | Occurs as an allophone of [ɾ] in syllable coda, in free variation with post-alveolar [ɹ̠]. See Turkish phonology. |
| Vietnamese | Saigon | ra | [ɹa] | 'go out' | In free variation with [ɾ], [r] and [ʐ]. See Vietnamese phonology. |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | rdɨ | [ɹd̪ɨ] | 'pass' | Allophone of /ɾ/ before consonants. |
Postalveolar
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Australian | red | [ɹ̠ʷed] | 'red' | Often labialized. May also be a labialized retroflex approximant. For convenience it is often transcribed ⟨r⟩. See Australian English phonology, English phonology, Rhoticity in English and Pronunciation of English /r/. |
| Most American dialects | |||||
| Received Pronunciation | |||||
| Igbo | rí | [ɹ̠í] | 'eat' | ||
| Malay | راتوس / ratus | [ɹ̠ä.tos] | 'hundred' | More commonly trill [r] or flap [ɾ]. See Malay phonology | |
| Maltese | Some dialects | malajr | [mɐˈlɐjɹ̠] | 'quickly' | Corresponds to [ɾ ~ r] in other dialects. |
| Shipibo | roro | [ˈd̠ɹ̠o̽ɾ̠o̽] | 'to break into pieces' | Pre-stopped. Possible word-initial realization of /r/. | |
| Thai | Standard | กรุงเทพ / Krungthep | Bangkok | Allophone with the alveolar approximant [ɹ]. Contrast with standard form which pronounce alveolar trill [r]. | |
As an allophone of other rhotic sounds, [ɹ] occurs in Edo, Fula, Murrinh-patha, and Palauan.
See also
- Index of phonetics articles
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Voiced alveolar and postalveolar approximants Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.